Sweet December
by Ellana-san
Summary: Once April and Aidan had caught sight of the huge tree on the main square there had been no escaping Christmas. And that was without mentioning the way Effie's eyes had started shining at the prospect of having a proper Christmas. Haymitch could have done without coupling Christmas with a visit from her family but he supposed family was part of the holidays. / An April Showers os


_This is a sequel (of sort) to April Showers so I'm not sure how understandable it would be without reading that one first. Haymitch and Effie have two children, we're give or take 6 years post war and Haymitch recently had a liver graft. So... Here we go!_

 _I hope you have a nice Christmas (or whichever holidays you're celebrating!) ! Lots of love 3_

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 _ **Sweet December**_

 **(4 Years & 3 Years)**

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Haymitch was deeply regretting the time the babies weren't mobile.

April and Aidan had worked themselves up into such a frenzy that they were running around the living-room, chasing each other with arms full of bright tinsels that trailed on the floor behind them. The cats, in turn, chased the wriggling bits of tinsels and Snowball, who always thought life was one big game, ran and jumped after the kids and the cats, barking his joy.

Haymitch had given up on trying to reign in their excitement half an hour earlier, when the living-room had started looking like some sort of glitter fairy had thrown up on it. From his seat on the couch, he checked the clock for the hundredth time, wishing Effie would hurry up and come back from the station.

April let out a particularly sharp shrilly scream when her brother finally managed to grab her around the waist and Haymitch rubbed his forehead.

The room was a mess.

Effie had tasked him with the mission of sorting through the boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations she had brought back from town while she went to the station to get her parents. He didn't know _why_ they needed to make such a fuss that year. They had never really celebrated Christmas since she had come to live in Twelve, not even after the babies had been born. There had been the disaster with that man attacking her when she had been pregnant with April. She had been pregnant with Aidan and not in a shape to do too much for April's first winter… The year after that they had been outnumbered by children. The year after _that_ he had still been recovering from his liver graft… And Christmas wasn't really something that was done in the Districts anyway…

At least until that year. Funds had been allotted to decorate Twelve and the holidays had kind of taken over the entire District…

Once the kids had caught sight of the huge tree on the main square there had been _no_ escaping Christmas. And that was without mentioning the way Effie's eyes had started shining at the prospect of having a proper Christmas. He _could_ have done without coupling Christmas with a visit from her family but he supposed family was part of the holidays. Or, at least, if what he understood of it.

Mostly, April and Aidan seemed to be in it for all the glitter, the shiny lights and the shimmering wrapping papers that meant more toys for them to play with.

On most days, and with fondness, Haymitch couldn't help but think they were truly their mother's children.

The front door opened with a bang, prompting Snowball to dash in that direction, barking like a mad dog.

"Down. _Down_." Katniss' voice ordered, her irritation clearly perceptible in her voice. "Get out of the way, you stupid dog!"

"Don't insult my dog." Haymitch grumbled, hauling himself to his feet just in time to see Peeta and Katniss drag a huge tree inside his living-room. Or try to, at least.

April and Aidan immediately rushed to the tree with _gasps_ and delighted exclamations…

Katniss impatiently tossed her disheveled braid over her shoulder but her face softened when she saw how excited the babies were. She tore the woolen hat from her head, took off her coat and gloves and tossed everything on one of the armchairs. Behind her, Peeta had grabbed hold of Aidan who had rushed at him and hauled the kid up on his hip like he weighted nothing.

Haymitch felt a small pang of jealousy at how easy the boy made it look. He loved carrying his children but ever since the surgery he couldn't carry them long without feeling an ache in his side. And it was never as easy as it used to be either, he had to strain his muscles.

It wasn't until he had found himself unable to do it that he had understood how hard it must have been on Effie not to be able to hold April as often as she had wanted when she had been pregnant with Aidan.

"You're okay?" Katniss asked, her grey eyes scanning his face with a little too much attention.

"Yeah." he dismissed, waving his hand. He was both touched and annoyed by the fussing. They all acted as if he could relapse at any second despite Larcher's and the Capitol doctor's promises that he was as healthy as could be for a man with his history. "Just a headache."

"Are you sure?" Peeta frowned, studying him hard.

Haymitch tried to swallow back his irritation. Sometimes a headache was just a headache. However, he had such a bad habit of downplaying his symptoms that they were all always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"You try sitting in a room with two excited toddlers and you tell me how your head feels." he snorted. "See you got the tree alright?"

The tree topic was all it took for Katniss to forget her worries and make a face. She wordlessly took Aidan from Peeta's arm so the boy could get rid of his coat, scarf and gloves. "It's _crazy_ in the woods. Everyone is chopping off trees."

Peeta's lips twitched. "Katniss is worried there won't be any woods left for her to hunt in."

April gasped, grabbing the hem of the girl's sweater. "No more woods?"

"Don't worry, shrimp. Katniss is just being her overdramatic self." Haymitch mocked.

April furrowed her brow but then decided that there were more urgent matters and, very much like her mother would have, rushed back to him and tugged on his hand until he stood right next to the fallen tree. She pointed at the spot Effie had decided would be perfect for it – where his beloved armchairs used to be, right in front of the bookshelves. "Mama says the tree goes there."

"Ever noticed how _Mama's_ never there to do the heavy lifting?" Katniss grumbled, placing Aidan down after giving him a playful kiss on the cheek.

"Should be back already." Haymitch pointed out, glancing at the clock again. "Train must be running late."

"I told you someone should have gone with her." Peeta shrugged. "To carry the luggage if nothing else."

The three of them exchanged an amused look. Nobody had ever accused Elindra Trinket of traveling _light_.

"The tree!" April reminded them in an imperative sort of voice.

"The tree! The tree!" Aidan echoed, half-laughing. He grabbed Patata around the waist and forced a kiss on the uncooperative cat's head. "The tree!"

Soon, both the toddlers were chanting _'the tree, the tree'_ and Haymitch knew he should have scolded them but they were so cute in their matching Christmas sweaters that he grabbed the camera and took pictures instead. He didn't offer his help setting up the tree and Katniss and Peeta didn't complain about it – it allowed them all the pretense of ignoring Haymitch wasn't supposed to do _any_ heavy-lifting.

He was sweeping the pine needles off the floor – after insisting he could do _that_ much – when Snowball suddenly lifted his head and turned it in the threshold's direction. Two seconds later he dashed off and they heard the front door opening and closing again.

"Hello, my pretty baby…" Effie's voice crooned. "Were you a good boy? _Of_ _course_ , you were. Such a good babysitter, you are…"

"Where are my grandbabies?" Elindra's shrill voice came right after.

Haymitch propped the broom against the wall, amused at how quickly Aidan and April both ran to the hallway. There were a lot of exclamations and laughter in the corridor and Haymitch exchanged a long suffering look with Katniss and Peeta. They moved toward the corridor together, Peeta bumped his shoulder on their way there.

"Come on, we all know you secretly love her." the boy joked.

Haymitch rolled his eyes.

He might have developed a fondness for his mother-in-law, he wouldn't have called it _love_.

It was hard to say who was the most blinding. Effie in her red and gold dress, her beautiful blond hair braided up in a crown, or Elindra in her silver and green glittery dress. The Capitol woman was crouching to better hug both children.

Haymitch greeted Tadius with a firm handshake, happy to see him. There would at least been another sensible person in the house for Christmas. Peeta was too quick to be swept up into the whole thing and Katniss would play along to make him happy.

When the children passed to their grandfather – already carrying a new stuffed toy each, he couldn't help but notice – Elindra gracefully rose up and regarded him with pursed lips. "You are still _awfully_ skinny, Haymitch. Truly, what looks good on a woman does not look good on a man."

"It's good to see you too." Haymitch deadpanned. " _Mother_."

Her mouth twitched and she held out a cheek he dutifully kissed. She patted his shoulder afterwards. "You look better." she said in a lower voice. "I _am_ glad." Then, she turned toward Peeta and Katniss and opened her arms in a theatric gesture. "Aren't the two of you going to say hello, then?"

Haymitch didn't even resist the urge to shake his head as he made his way closer to the front door where Effie was still petting the dog like they had been separated for months instead of a couple of hours.

"Did the children behave?" she hummed with a bright smile, taking the hand he outstretched to help her up.

"Depends." He shrugged. "Was the glitter supposed to stay in the box until the tree was up or was it supposed to go all over the couch, the walls and the rug?"

It was a testament to how used she had gotten to having a messy house that she didn't even blink. "Well… It _is_ Christmas, I suppose. Did the children find a tree?"

The way she used _children_ to indifferently talk about April and Aidan _and_ Katniss and Peeta would have thrown someone else but Haymitch was too used to it to even notice. "It's set up and everything. Good thing you show up now cause I don't think I could have kept the kids waiting any longer. They want to decorate."

"And decorate we shall!" She grinned and pressed a long peck on his lips.

"Mama!" Aidan immediately barreled into their legs. Not so surprisingly either. Aidan was _extremely_ possessive of Effie and didn't always like to share with Haymitch. "I want cuddles!"

"Oh, is that so?" Effie laughed, lifting him up so he was trapped between them. She pressed several kisses on their son's neck. "Maybe _I_ want to _eat you._ "

"Me too!" April shrieked. "Me too!"

Haymitch picked her up without thinking, barely managing to hide his wince. It was a small discomfort compared to his daughter's laughter when he tickled her side and kissed her rosy cheeks.

He still could have done without the rest of the adults watching him like a hawk and so he made sure not to betray the slightest hint of pain when he swung April over his shoulder and headed for the living-room.

"So, we're decorating that tree or what?" he asked no one in particular.

April was laughing so hard when he carefully dropped her on the couch that she started having hiccups – which only prompted Aidan to laugh at her and Elindra to cluck her tongue and remind everyone that ladies didn't behave like that.

"I'm not a lady!" April retorted bouncing on the couch. "I'm a pirate!"

"It's her new obsession." Effie supplied for her parent's sake before turning to their daughter with a light scolding expression. "Ladies _or_ pirates, jumping on the couch is forbidden and you know it."

April flashed her an adorable pout that Haymitch had yet to learn how to resist.

Effie didn't bat an eyelash.

With a heavy sigh, April got off the couch and wrapped her arms around Haymitch's leg. "Mama's not funny."

"That's not her best quality. No." he confirmed thoughtfully.

"Whereas you papa thinks he is a comedian when he _truly_ isn't that amusing." Effie retorted with a huff. "Stop sulking now, my little shrimp. Sulking girls do not get cookies."

April cheered up considerably at that.

" _Christmas_ _shaped_ cookies." Peeta added as an enticement.

"My cookies!" Aidan chirped in.

"Yes. Aidan's cookies." The boy nodded very seriously, grabbing Aidan round the waist. "He did all the decorating himself. And now he's going to help me carry them."

"Is that wise, Peeta?" Effie asked, clearly weary.

"And what about you, April? You did not help bake the cookies?" Tadius asked his granddaughter, sitting down in one of the armchairs.

April's pointy little chin dug painfully in Haymitch's leg when she lifted her head to watch the Capitol man. "Pirates don't cook." Then she let go of him as another idea flashed through her head. "You want to see my ship? Come! Come! Balls!"

The dog obediently came running at her call, immediately pressing his nose against her belly. She laughed and grabbed him around the neck. Not long though. Next thing he knew, Tadius was being dragged out of the room and upstairs to the girl's bedroom where he would be free to admire the toy pirate ship and the numerous dolls in silk dresses that now lived in it.

"She is still so energetic." Elindra sighed. "She reminds me of you at her age."

"They are both very lively." Effie nodded. "Sit down, sit down…"

"Lively." Katniss snorted, flopping down on the rug in front of the fireplace. She poked at the fire. " _Exhausting_ , more like."

"Someone put on their grumpy pants today." Haymitch mocked, taking a seat on the couch, not that surprised when Effie immediately dashed away to the kitchen to see what was taking so long – and rescue the cookies from Aidan's grabby hands no doubt.

"Effie's been talking _flowers_ to me all morning." the girl lamented, tossing him a look. "I thought Christmas would make her forget about the wedding."

"Only six months to go." Haymitch deadpanned because the weeding had been all Effie had been talking about for almost a year. Apparently, it took _that_ long to organize a wedding properly and she wanted that one to be _perfect._

"Six months, two weeks and four days, actually." Elindra corrected, tossing Katniss a chiding look. "As the bride, you should know the exact timing."

Katniss' eyes widened and she looked at Haymitch with a frightened expression, as if it had just occurred to her that she would have to suffer _twice_ the wedding talk while Elindra was visiting. Effie's mother had certainly taken the "adopted but still ours" policy to heart when it came to the children.

It was probably fortunate that Effie, Peeta and Aidan came back, loaded with trays full of mugs filled with hot chocolate and pastries – or in Aidan's sake with a tiny plate with a few cookies, clearly meant to humor his non-existent waitressing abilities. He tripped on the hem of the rug and tipped the plate, making the cookies fall.

Coal immediately came to sniff at them but Aidan pushed him away, put the cookies back on the plate and then placed it down on the coffee table like nothing had happened before rushing to Katniss and plopping down on her lap since she was already sitting on the floor. Katniss automatically wrapped her arms around him and propped her chin on the top of his head.

Haymitch caught Effie's secret smile and wasn't exactly surprised when she hurried to take a picture.

He wasn't surprised either to hear what sounded like a herd a small elephants barreling down the stairs. April came running back into the room – ignoring the dual _no running in the house_ coming from Effie and Elindra – her pirate eye-patch askew on her face. Tadius appeared a minute later, amused and a little wary.

"She is very… _excited_ today." the man remarked.

Haymitch couldn't help but sort. "They've been like that since this whole Christmas thing started."

Not to brag but his children were usually well-mannered enough. Not always calm, true, but not the kind to run havoc everywhere either. But since that tree had appeared on the square with its twinkling lights and shiny baubles and Effie had exclaimed the concept of Christmas…

"Can we do the tree now?" April asked, after taking a single sip of her hot chocolate. " _Pretty_ please?"

"Yeah!" Aidan exclaimed and, since he had still been munching on a candy cane shaped cookie, crumbs flew everywhere.

"Manners, my jellyfish. _Manners_." Effie chided.

The anxious look she tossed Elindra didn't escape Haymitch's notice but her mother _miraculously_ refrained from making a comment.

"Let's attack that tree before they bring the house down." Haymitch cut in. They had been looking forward to that part for weeks and it had been so hard to have them wait until their grandparents got there… Effie had really wanted them to be there, for old time's sakes, he suspected.

"Alright, then." she caved and when the children rushed to the box full of brand new baubles she lifted a hand. "Oh, no, no, no, my darlings! There is a _method_ to this. We need to hang the twinkling lights _first_ you see. Father…"

"Your wish is my command." Tadius gallantly answered, already untangling the twinkling lights with an ease that told Haymitch it must have been his assigned job for a long time.

Elindra had already wandered over to the ornaments and was inspecting them. Most of them were handmade since they came from Twelve's market and if she found them lacking the Capitol flare, she had the wisdom not to say.

"We _should_ call your sister later." Elindra suggested distractedly. "She was so disappointed not to be able to come… But she would not leave Leo and he was wrapped up in that trial…"

"Next year." Effie offered.

"Perhaps next year you could all come to the city." Elindra countered. "See what a real Christmas looks like."

It wasn't said unkindly but Haymitch rolled his eyes all the same, grabbing Aidan under the armpits and swinging him closer to the tree just so the kid would laugh and diffuse the tension he could feel building. None of them really wanted to go to the Capitol, he least of all. He had spent too many weeks stuck in a hospital bed there recently.

Whatever method Effie wanted to apply to the tree's decorating, it soon flew out the window. Neither April nor Aidan cared that two red ornaments shouldn't be next to each other or that they _truly_ should make sure to vary colors. All they wanted was to put everything on the tree, the shiner the better.

It was actually a nice family time, Haymitch could admit that, and it was almost enough to reconcile him with the Christmas frenzy. Anything that could put such a big smile on his girls' lips or make his boys laugh so hard was welcome.

He caught Peeta and Katniss sneaking kisses and snickering together a few times when nobody was looking at them and it was so good to see them both acting like that that Haymitch couldn't help but smirk.

"Ain't sure he's going to like that, shrimp." he warned April when she tried to wrap a tinsel around Snowball's collar. The dog, always patient when it came to the kids, let himself be made " _all pretty"_ to everyone's amusement even if he sank on the floor with a deep sigh afterwards and shuffled to Haymitch on his belly as soon as April was distracted to get rescued.

Haymitch discreetly unwrapped the tinsel and handed it back to Katniss so she could hang it somewhere else. Snowball, he couldn't help but notice, made himself scarce after that.

The tree was finally taking shape when Effie stepped back from the activity, joining Haymitch by the fireplace. She wrapped her arms around his middle-section and leaned against his chest so he rested his cheek on the top of her head and embraced her back, making the most of that stolen moment of calm.

They were happy to watch their children – all four of them – get crazy with the decorating for a while. Tadius and Elindra were so clearly in over their heads with the babies that it was actually funny to watch.

"They're little terrors." Haymitch snorted when April insisted on climbing on top of Peeta's shoulders so she could place the golden star on top of the tree.

" _Adorable_ little terrors." she corrected with a smile.

"Yeah." he chuckled. "Maybe it's not so obvious today but yeah."

Effie laughed and looked up, her eyes twinkling with mirth. "There's mistletoe behind you."

"Thought it was supposed to be overhead." he teased. "If you want me to kiss you, all you've got to do is ask, sweetheart."

"Since when do I have to _ask?"_ she complained.

Her pout was so similar to April's and Aidan's it was uncanny.

He brushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and kissed her gentle and sweet like tended to be the norm when they were in public. It was still enough to make most of their family members tell them to stop being all mushy – or, in Aidan's case, to run to them and ask for cuddles once more.

Haymitch didn't care.

His family was all in one place, they were all happy and that was all that counted.

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 _Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoyed this little chapter! Let me know your thoughts!_


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